Trump’s Big Corporate Tax Cut Keeps Getting Harder and Harder

Ron Sachs/CNP via ZUMA

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Let’s see. Republicans first proposed a complicated border tax scheme as a way of paying for their huge tax cut to the well-heeled. That didn’t fly. Trump then preemptively declared both the mortgage interest deduction and the charitable deduction off limits. Republicans regrouped and laid out a proposal to eliminate the deduction for state and local taxes. That died when a bunch of red-state senators realized it would affect them, not just Democrats in blue states. Child tax credits are also off the table since Trump wants to increase those. Ditto for capital gains rates, which no Republican wants to increase. Finally, in desperation, Republicans recently tossed out the idea of limiting 401(k) contributions, but now Trump has killed that idea too.

So mortgage interest, charitable deductions, retirement income, state and local taxes, and education accounts are all now off limits. That’s basically everything. There is no longer any way, even theoretically, to pay for the Republican tax cut.

And yet wealthy business owners want their tax cut. That’s the only reason they supported an obvious simpleton like Trump in the first place. So Republicans need to deliver.

But how? I predict smoke and mirrors.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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